What Do Your Employees Need to Provide Outstanding Customer Experiences?

What Do Your Employees Need to Provide
Outstanding Customer Experiences?
Laura Sikorski Erin Washington
With: Moderated by:
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About Laura Sikorski
Laura Sikorski is a recognized expert in Call/Contact Centers, Project/Program Management and
Business Operations. She has worked with hospitals, utilities, automobile manufacturers and numerous
other industries across the nation. The Call/Contact Center policies, procedures, technology
improvements, training programs and implementation plans developed by Laura have improved
operational excellence. They have enabled staff to proactively anticipate customer needs to resolve all
issues through consistency and product knowledge and ensure employees are consistently meeting
and/or exceeding customer expectations and satisfaction.
About Erin Washington
Erin went to the University of Georgia and majored in International Affairs with a minor in Spanish. She
gained customer service experience after working as a customer service representative for 2 years. She
now works as an Editor at Aggregage, providing some of the most interesting thought-leaders in customer
experience with a space to celebrate the diversity, depth, and experience of their professional cultures,
personalities, and passions.

6
 Interactive Engagement Contact Center
 Getting Back to Basics
 Happy Employees Means Happy Customers
 Building/Encouraging Leadership
 Absenteeism, Burnout and Attrition
 Coaching, Motivation and Development
 Metrics
 Technology and Desktop Tools
 Success = Culture, Empowerment, Empathy, Engagement
Agenda
What Do Your Employees Need to Provide Outstanding Customer Experiences?

7
Is the most customer focused area in your organization
Your company is judged on how your staff relates to your
customers
Your staff requires the appropriate tools and integration to
front and back office systems that will enable them to satisfy
your customer’s needs
Interactive Engagement Contact Center

8
You can only achieve high customer satisfaction, experience and
loyalty when there is appropriate training, coaching, reporting and
organizational collaboration
The role of your employees is paramount
Your staff needs to be insightful and knowledgeable on all products,
services, discounts, adjustments, procedures and be able to respond
consistently regardless of the customer’s communication method
Interactive Engagement Contact Center

9
Being happy at work should be everyone’s goal
“Happy” is indeed a state of mind; however, if we all
identified ways to make customer resolution better and made
it easy for our customers to have a great experience, we will
be part of the solution and not part of the problem
Getting Back to Basics
Happy Employees Means Happy Customers

10
Training, coaching and product knowledge
Defined career paths and mentoring
Genuine appreciation for a job well done
What Makes a “Happy Employee”

11
A company that
Stands behind their products/services and keeps their promises
Knows where my channel interaction started, what I found
confusing and why I need to speak with an agent
Lets me know if something is wrong with my order or account
before I even know it
Appreciates me
What Makes a “Happy Customer”

12
I enjoy getting up in the morning and going to work
I know what to do when dealing with an angry/irate customer
I know how to stay focused and listen to the customer
I am confident that at the end of an interaction I have
satisfied the customer’s reason(s) for contacting us
Tips for Being a “Happy Employee”

13
Am I realistic in what I expect the company to do for me
Do I complete surveys when asked and let them know how I felt
Do I understand why the company cannot always do what I ask
Do I let friends and family know how great my experience was
Tips for Being a “Happy Customer”

14
In my opinion, a leader, whether you are executive management,
directors, managers, supervisors or team leaders should “live by” these
words
HOW YOU ARE PERCEIVED IS HOW YOU ARE RECEIVED
Sometimes we forget that to be a leader you need to remember your
journey to the management team and what it was like being a line staff
member
It is not easy working on interactions from different channels minute after
minute and trying to be upbeat, pleasant and knowledgeable
Building/Encouraging Leadership

15
My personal tenets on building leadership
Lead by example
Motivate through empowerment
Delegate responsibility
Recognize that your employees are your company’s greatest asset
Leaders are
Mentors and should be consistent listeners
Self motivated, charismatic, work well independently and most importantly are respectful
You need to find staff members who have these attributes and can create an
environment of trust and openness
Clearly defined career paths in the contact center are crucial to keeping your attrition
low

16
When conducting staff meetings start looking for individuals who
Ask questions
Listen and do not doodle
Make suggestions on policies and procedures
Discuss customer issues that appear to be trending
Offer to be part of taskforces that will work on solving a problem
Team Leaders or Supervisors should have mini-staff meetings or daily
briefings with agenda’s that center around issues that may need to be
addressed, request suggestions on how to fix reoccurring problems or
ideas that will make their contact center life a great experience

17
You will begin to see staff getting excited as they are being asked for their
opinions and know that their answers will make a difference
Then select teams to work on what could benefit their work-life experience as
well as your customers experience/loyalty
You can also implement something you know in your heart will not work to teach
these team members that not all ideas work and why
You can never underestimate the power of enthusiasm
Team players are leaders of the future and it is management’s responsibility to
identify these employees and support them in their career development

18
You can keep absenteeism, burnout and attrition to a
minimum only if you have taken precautions to control the
root causes
Key areas within your control are:
Office Environment/Ergonomics
Hiring Practices
Training, Coaching and Performance Criteria
Motivational Techniques
Compensation/Benefits
Absenteeism, Burnout and Attrition

19
Sick Building Syndrome
Janitorial Services
Office layout, furniture design and equipment can generate staff
complaints about headaches, backaches, glare, too loud, too hot,
too cold
What are your policies regarding sending staff, line and
management, home if they have a cold, fever, etc.
Absenteeism, Burnout and Attrition -
Office Environment and Ergonomics

20
Emotional absenteeism and agent burnout cause the most harm in a
contact center
You have “buns” in seats yet your agents “just aren’t there”
First and foremost analyze your hiring practices
Your objective needs to be
Get the RIGHT people in the RIGHT places at the RIGHT
time
Hiring Practices

21
HR generally pre-screens resumes
Telephone interview
In-person interview
Pre-employment tests (behavioral and typing)
Invite the candidate to side-by-side with an agent to listen in on calls
Contact Center Manager interview
Peer interview (cultural fit)
If necessary, 2nd interview or job shadowing for a few hours
Job offer
Hiring Practices – Interview Process

22
The first interview should be by telephone
Are they creative, decisive, persuasive
Do they have good oral and communication skills
Do they listen, ask questions about the company and the
job

23
Pre-employment Testing should be part of your process
Offers great predictive validity
Provides objective and standardized data
Contributes to more effective hiring decisions
Tests should not be used as an eliminator as they are a part of the hiring
process

24
Self Confidence – positive self esteem
Initiative – self motivated
Assertiveness – opinions without being rude
Coping Skills – handling difficult customers
Adaptability/Flexibility – ability to handle change
Oral Communication Skill – connects with others
Problem Solving Ability – can diagnose and solve
Listening Skill – comprehends
Self-control – can keep “cool” under pressure
Hiring Practices – Hire for These Competencies

25
Your agents are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses,
partners, boyfriends, girlfriends, uncles, aunts, etc.
Although some of you may think agents are just the means to
achieve Service Level and numbers, remember your staff has the
same personal emotions and problems that you may have
If a staff member appears to be pre-occupied due to a family event
- wedding, graduation, baptism - why not adjust their hours for a
couple of weeks or allow staff to “Swap” shifts
Absenteeism, Burnout and Attrition –
The Human Side of Your Center

26
Review your compensation and benefits packages
Have HR conduct a salary survey
Why not add a vacation day, personal day, day-off for perfect
1-year attendance, day off for a birthday and/or family event
Absenteeism, Burnout and Attrition –
The Human Side of Your Center

27
Meeting the needs of your customers, exceeding their
expectations and developing/empowering your staff all begin
with solid Training, Coaching, Quality Assurance, Monitoring
programs that are based on quality not quantity
Coaching, Development & Motivation

28
Your mission should be
Providing outstanding Customer Experience
Service as a Product
Quality as everyone’s responsibility

29
Gone are the days of big brother watching
Employees want to know
How am I doing
How do I sound on the phone
What could I have done better on that interaction
What are my callers saying about me

30
Quality Monitoring – Side-by-Side, Silent, Real-Time, Recording, Screen Capture,
Speech Analytics – for all channels
Verifies how your contact center is performing
Identifies your purpose and processes
Determines your goals
Improves customer contacts and agent performance
Data analysis assists you with
 Training Evaluation
 Products and Services
 Marketing Campaigns
 Agent Use of Technology
 Performance Trends

31
A formal Monitoring Policy should be in place and detail
Performance Guidelines
Tools and Measurements
Ratings Standards
How reviews are scored and will be communicated

32
Coaching will
Increase productivity
Decrease agent burnout and attrition
Allow your staff to become more engaged
Improve communication skills
Improve procedures
Correct undesirable behaviors
Always discuss ways to improve by not focusing on what was wrong and
reinforce that your staff should think like a customer

33
Coaching improvement techniques
Have the agent and analyst/supervisor listen/view together and score independently
Consider “on-the-spot” coaching and guidance when walking the workfloor
Develop an agent improvement plan with realistic time frames
Implement continuous training courses
Reinforce listening skills
Ask the employee what they could have done better
How would you feel if your order was received damaged
What if you were on hold for 3 minutes and the agent never came back to let you
know that they were still working on getting the answer
Look for ways to empower your staff by asking them

34
Answering assigned channel interactions day-in and day-out is fast-paced,
repetitive, tedious, stressful and can result in burnout
Are you providing “time-off” from interaction work
Special projects
Career enrichment trainings
Outside seminar attendance
In-house seminars by outside professionals
When was the last time you sat at your desk for 2 hours and could not go
anywhere unless you asked for permission

35
Have you used the “taskforce” approach for selecting “complaining
agents” to solve an issue
How about creating a general taskforce in charge of creating ways
to make their jobs less stressful or ways they could be empowered
to solve customer complaints
Customers love to complain about “phone trees” how about a
taskforce to simplify all those press options

36
Contrary to popular belief, mere cash incentives are not enough to motivate staff and
maintain high morale over long periods of time
How about award points for a job well done redeemable for gifts, gas vouchers,
metro vouchers, theater tickets
Implementing a “Wall of Fame”
VIP parking spot
Volunteering for a Community Outreach

37
Let’s face it contact centers measure everything for a 15-minute, ½ hour or hourly
interval, daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis
You have supervisor dashboards, workfloor wallboards and files/books of
management reports
My questions for each of you . . . How did your company decide on which metrics
were the right ones for management, and more importantly, what does management
really do with all that data
Is it time to revamp what data you capture and develop an integrated front/back office
software reporting plan to generate meaningful reports for contact center and
executive management
Metrics

38
Start with creating a taskforce comprised of agents, floor supervisors,
quality teams and the staff member(s) that prepare all reports
Get copies of all 15-minute, ½ hour or hourly interval, daily, weekly,
monthly and annual reports that you use to run your center from an
operations perspective, those that you give to management and have a
roundtable discussion on each reports value
Then meet with management to find out what they want to know about
your contact center’s operation including CRM statistics and decide on
KPI/metric objectives
Metrics

39
Finalize the content of the reports so that they will give your
agents, supervisors, quality assurance teams and
management the information they need to do their jobs
Be sure to decide if columns of numbers or graphs will
appropriately tell your operational story
Metrics

40
I am a firm believer that Service Level, Abandoned Call
Percentage, and FCR when combined with customer/employee
surveys will determine your operational success and how
satisfied/happy your customers and employees are
By example, when you merge your call statistics with the revenue
generated and lost, you will be able to make a good case for the
staffing resources needed to meet your company’s performance
goals
Metrics

41
Digital Transformation Strategy
Adding non-voice channels (email, chat, video, SMS/text, social media,
FAX)
Automating tasks using self-service, speech recognition
Incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning and “The
Cloud”
Current/Future application integrations (CTI) including reports
Desired End Result
Personalization of the customer experience – empathy, loyalty, trust
Direct customer engagement by delivering innovative technology
options
Improving the customer journey
Technology and Desktop Tools

42
Artificial Intelligence
Development of enhanced computer systems to engage with customers
“BOT” ability to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as
Visual perception
Speech recognition
Decision-making
Translation between languages
“Everything we love about civilization is a product of intelligence, so amplifying our
human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilization
flourish like never before – as long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial.”
Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute

43
“The Cloud”
Allows you to set up what is essentially a virtual office to
give you the flexibility of connecting to your business
anywhere and at any time
Rather than purchasing expensive systems and
equipment (CAPEX) for your business, you can reduce
your costs by using the resources of your cloud
computing service provider (OPEX)

44
Cloud Benefits
Reduced IT costs
Scalability
Business Continuity
Flexibility of Work Practices
Access to automatic updates
Monthly costs for agents, supervisors, maintenance and support
Covid 19
Redefined “Work From Home” operations procedures, hiring, onboarding and training
Security and bandwidth
“Zoom” staff and team meetings to achieve a sense of community and collaboration
Gamification

45
ROI From Technology Improvements
INTELLIGENT
ROUTING
(IVR &
SKILLS)
20%
IVR
SELF-
SERVICE
15-30%
CTI
26 Seconds off
Talk Time
(Authentication
)
20%
WORKFORCE
MANAGEMEN
T
4-20%
DIALER
10-300%
The Future of Contact Centers: What Technology Is Right for Your Customers?

46
It is contact center management’s responsibility to assure all
employees that you will provide them with all the job tools and
training needed to be successful during their tenure at your
company
“You can’t expect your employees to exceed the expectations
of your customers if YOU don’t exceed the employees’
expectations of management.” Howard Shultz CEO
Starbucks
Culture, Empowerment, Empathy, Engagement

47
Why talented employees stay
Paid well
Appreciated
Listened to
Promoted
Involved in discussions and decision making
Mentored
Challenged
Culture, Empowerment, Empathy, Engagement

48
Do you have a toxic workplace – you can feel it in the air
“We have always done it this way”
Status quo attitude
Unhealthy behavior is the norm
New employees adjust or leave
How about “bad bosses” who
Treat employees unfairly
Have inconsistent expectations
Have poor interpersonal skills
Culture

49
Positive Culture takes work and starts with the owner/CEO
Create a motivating environment
Common goals
Communicate values and expected behavior
Accountable
Positive attitude
“Weed-out” troublesome employees
Culture

50
You cannot predict what an irate customer wants; however, your
employees must have the ability to solve their problems without
escalation
Leaders should bring out the best in their employees
Have faith in their ability
Give them the freedom needed
Rely on their integrity to make the right decision
Provide encouragement, tools and authority
Empowerment

51
You can either embrace empowerment or hate it
Allow for creativity
Understand staff will respect processes and policies
Provide an allowance (discounts, refunds, etc.)
Trust your team without repercussions
Share customer feedback when received
Empowerment is not autonomy
Empowerment

52
Soft-skills training
Active listening
How to diffuse
Self awareness
Empathy

53
Live by the “golden rule”
Active listening
Communication skills
Birthdays and life events
Share feedback
Empathy

54
Gallup “State of the American Workforce” 2015
50% are not engaged and “sleep-walk” through their day just to get the job
done
30% feel a connection to your company and are passionate about its
innovation
20% are seriously unhappy
A few companies that conduct employee engagement surveys are
Peakon, Qualtrics, Culture Amp, and results will provide valuable
information
Engagement

55
Definition of an engaged employee
Passionate about the work they do and are committed to the
organization they work for
Humans are motivated by
Autonomy – opportunity to be self-directed and in control
Mastery – opportunity to grow and get better at something they
want to improve
Purpose – want to contribute to something meaningful for
themselves or society
Engagement

56
We have covered a lot and do hope you have at least one
take-way to implement
OUTSTANDING Customer Experiences can only be
achieved if you and your company provide your employees
A great physical, emotional and operational place to work
Consistent and continuous developmental training
Autonomy, mastery and purpose so they feel a passionate
connection to your company and its innovation
Next Steps

57
THANK YOU!

Q&A
Erin Washington
With: Moderated by:
Independent Contact Center Consultant
LinkedIn page: /in/laura-sikorski-63b84611/
Twitter ID: @LauraSikorski
Email: lsikorski@laurasikorski.com
Website: www.laurasikorski.com
Laura Sikorski
Editor, Customer Experience
Update and Customer Contact Central
LinkedIn page: /in/erin-washington1
Twitter ID: @CXupdate
Email: erin.washington@aggregage.com
Website: customerexperienceupdate.com
https://www.customerexperienceupdate.com/frs/13791562/what-do-your-employees-need-to-provide-outstanding-customer-
experiences-/
https://www.customercontactcentral.com/frs/13791562/what-do-your-employees-need-to-provide-outstanding-customer-experiences-/

What Do Your Employees Need to Provide Outstanding Customer Experiences?

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